haphazard musings

shelves upon shelves

of books.

that is my dream for my next house.

my favorite room in our house is currently the little office. 

why?

it is my reading spot.  i have a giant comfy chair, next to my front window, next to all my books.

and while i really, really enjoy reading books, i mostly love the way they look on our shelves.  so i can really only imagine what they could look like in much larger quantities!

i don't know what it is about books that i love so much, but i always have. it's a bit of a complusion...

ask my dad, he packed them ALL up from when i was a kid and brought them all to out house.  apparently, he needed the closet space.

and yes, in case you noticed, i take the covers off all my hard backs and have them stored in a little bin in the closet (this makes Ryan crazy, but I say they look better on the shelf that way).

and yes, that picture was taking in 2004 or 2005...we were so young.

as evidenced by my pins on pinterest, i have big dreams for my future library. 

so hopefully, our next house shall have a library full of leather bound books and will smell of rich mahogany.

10 points to you if you can name that movie reference...

enjoy these awesome libraries and be jealous that some day i plan to have one.  you can even come check out my books if you want.

    

did you get that one, by the way, check out my books...in my library...it was funny, you should have laughed.

and if you were wondering, the movie reference was Anchorman.  and no, i haven't seen it but Ryan quotes it all the time.  and by all the time, i mean probably once a week.

 

 

 

book or hymnal wreath

i like being crafty.  it's fun.

so i crafted a few of my christmas presents and decorations. 

the best one turned out to be my wreath made out of hymnal pages.

i got the idea here...at Living with Lindsay.  i had never read the blog before, and i don't know how i found the tutorial in general...but since it was called living with lindsay it must be a good read.  i mean we are name twins and thus kindred spirits.

so that is what Lindsay's looked like (now don't be confused, i have not yet been reduced to commenting about myself in the 3rd person).

i saw this one on pinterest that used hymnal pages just today.

this one is also cool, but it is very orderly.  mine was not quite so tidy - obviously, since tidy isn't really in my nature.

i followed the tutorial on Lindsay's site pretty closely, except that i used a stamp pad to darken the edges rather than a paint brush and craft paint.  why? you may ask.  well i had a stamp pad and i didn't have a paint brush or paint.  so i just improvised.  crazy, right?  also, i would recommend hot glue over the glue stick.

i forgot to take a final picture, but here is a picture of it being given and to give you an idea of the finished size.

so yeah, it was huge, and barely fit in the wreath box we bought to hold it.  we couldn't put the lid on though cuz it crushed the pages.  so we stuck a giant red bow on it and called it good. :)

now, i kind of want to make another one for my house, since i loved the way it turned out.  and i would kind of like to make it out of Bible pages, but seeing as i felt pretty guilty ripping pages from a hymnal, i can only imagine it is sacreligious to pull pages out of a Bible to make a wreath.

what do you think?  it would be pretty cool though.

so there you go...make your own.  they are super cool.

 

 

I like this one.

The Kiss.

Blossoms burst with color,
as varied and bright, as a painter’s pallet,
in the field to which they flee. A
kaleidoscope of violet, red and ochre 
vines entangle her
feet as she kneels draped in his embrace.
A mosaic of flowers bloom on her
garnet hair and amber gown,
both more radiant than the finest stone.
Her beauty rivals that of the meadow.  

The sky burns bronze as the day
releases to night.  Particles of
gold dance from the lovers.
Could it be sparks of passion an
erupting heart can no longer contain?
He gathers her, his yellow cloak
enveloping both, as his lips
ignite her cheek red with longing.

At dusk everything seems to glow, as the sun
rushes down just ahead of the horizon.
The world is briefly suspended between
day and night, a moment of stillness.  Serendipity
prevails, successful in her search for seconds - 
secret lovers stall
fate.

 

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

source

 

a new assignment

we have been asked for class to compose a new poem.

this one should be reflective without actually stating my feelings directly.  which will be an interesting task.  part of the assignment is to take a work of art, or a scene of some kind and "let it speak".

i am looking for works of art to use.  do you have any suggestions?

this is what i have so far.

Whew what a weekend.

It was a great weekend.  It was totally productive and totally fun.

I thought I would give you a brief run-down.

Friday: I ran 3.5 miles.  Then we moved our good friends Anne and Loren into their new house.  We are so so excited that they are just down the street from us!

Saturday started early.  I was at the Lincoln Perk in Hesston at 7:30.  I love that little shop.  Its usually nice and quiet and they have great food and coffee.

Check out the sunrise.

Sorry about the pole.  Its hard to shoot in the car...

I was able to write a paper, do some reading and catch up on some e-mails and blogging. :)

Then I met Anne, Jess and Levi at the Hesston Barn Sale.

The tree-lined drive way isn't it awesome?

We had a lovely time on a crisp fall morning.

Then Ryan and I headed to Wichita to celebrate Dad's birthday.

I will tell you more of the story tomorrow.  But for now, Happy Birthday Dad!

Sunday was spent at the WSU Library.

We knocked out our class presentation!  It was not a quick process, but it wasn't too bad in the end.

After a lovely evening for another 3 mile run, Ryan and I killed the rest of the evening enjoying one of his favorite movies - McClintock. 

Its true, my hubby is a HUGE fan of old westerns.  I have to admit, McClintock was pretty good.  You should check it out!

I love a weekend full of everything good.  Thank goodness for the beautiful weather and the friends to enjoy it with.

And thank goodness for perfect sleeping weather.

 

My really awesome purchase.

Well, all the purchases I make are awesome since I have impeccable taste, right?  Especially the sweater I am wearing.  Two compliments today!

Anyway, this one is a little better.  Since I think its really old.  And antique.  And leaded, stained glass.  While I actually don't know anything about antiques or stained glass, but I know that I really like it.  It will be the perfect addition to my house.

The beauty of it is the other side is blue paint.  It can go either way.

Also, the guy that sold it to me reminded me that it already has the chains attached to the top to hang it. : )  He probably got me to pay extra for it and I don't even know it.

Now I just need to decide what to do with it.  Should I hang it over the buffet?  Or should I hang it in a window? 

I also thought it could be cool to string some rope lights just around the edge to make it sparkle if I hang it over the buffet. 

Thoughts.  Anyone have suggestions?

Something crafty

Don't you just love a good craft show?

Well, I never thought I would be a craft show kind of a gal, but as it turns out, they are right up my alley.  So I went with 6 gals and 5 kids (all 3 and under) to the giant craft show in Hillsboro.  

Two double strollers ...

and one little red stroller...

does not make it easy to trek through this.

Seriously, it was nuts.  We also kept getting stopped by people we knew...it was fun, but I tell you what, kids don't like 90 degree days and craft shows. 

This little guy kept trying to hide from me.

 
 

So while his mama was chatting, we played hide and seek from the camera.

After that game, Anne and I got a little bored so I started taking random picutres and Levi and Anne played with sunglasses.

Next was lunch.  Thank goodness.  I needed some air conditioning and the kiddos really needed some food.  (Well, I should be honest - I was just as grumpy as the kiddos.  I needed some lunch myself.)

Finally, the part I was most looking forward to.  The barn sale.

It was awesome.  So many amazing things I "needed": trucks, rocking chairs, doors, chairs, dressers.  Fantastic stuff.  I just need to figure out how to go back there and how to know when its open...any suggestions?

I really want to know what this lady plans on doing with that ax.  Weird.

I will show you what I got tomorrow.  I hope to get it cleaned up tonight. : )

Plus, I couldn't take a picture of it since my camera battery is so dead that the shutter won't click.  oops.

  

 

#26 - Art & a prize for one lucky reader.

This one is not so very, very exciting, but I love art - of all kinds.

I even love, well...maybe just like...some of the really weird unique modern art. 

I would love some day to spend a great deal of time at the Louvre.

And in Rome and Florence and other similar places checking out the art. 

Frescos, paintings, sculptures.

I love them all - but Frescos are my favorite.

They are often huge and elaborate.  And they last a long time due to the way they are made.

The most famous (in my opinion) fresco includes this:

Major kuddos and a prize will go to the first person to correctly identify the fresco, its artist and its location. 

You have to get all three right to win. 

So anyway, while we were in Mexico, I picked up an original piece "drawn" in coffee beans. 

 

It has joined in the wall collection - that was rearranged yet again.

I bought it from a street vendor for 12 bucks!  Seems like a good deal to me.  Puerto Vallarta was a beautiful city, and I think this drawing really shows it off. 

That steeple was amazing.

Here was my view.  (I couldn't get far enough away to get the whole thing. Its wedged in between lots of other buildings on a tiny little street.)

 

I am testing it out.

I have had some requests to purchase some prints of some my photos. 

So I set myself up with an Etsy shop.

If you click here or on the side bar button, it will take you directly to my shop.

Thanks for checking it out!

There were so many

bright colors and amazing light fixtures in Puerto Vallarta. 

Here are some for you to enjoy.

 

 

 

Sorry that one's so dark.